Do You Believe

Intro

Faith and the Chair

How do you know you have faith?

Main Point

Have you tested your faith?

Why it Matters

It’s easy to love or trust God when it is easy. If I show you a chair… (Cardboard)

Scripture

Matthew 21:18–22 NIV

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked. Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

18. Jesus was hungry. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day.

19. Jesus there was no fruit. A tree which promises fruit but provides none is an apt symbol of a religion without godliness.

During passover it would not have been uncommon for a fruit tree to be without fruit.

Many believe that this is a parable demonstrating the possible religious failure of his day. We will see what hem means later in the temple.

Matthew (C. The King Acts out the Drama of the Fruitless Fig Tree (21:18–22))

With the fig tree, Jesus acted out a parable or “mini-drama” to illustrate the reality of Israel’s fruitlessness and its doom. Just as the leaves of the fig tree advertised fruit, so the Jewish leaders claimed to be fulfilling God’s purpose. However, the advertising was a lie. Under the “leaves” of their showy religion their hearts were barren and unbelieving. They had missed their opportunity to repent and to bear true fruit, and so the king pronounced their judgment. There would be no more opportunities for these hypocrites—they would never bear fruit but would die through the judgment of God.

20. The disciples were amazed. “What just happened?”

21. Jesus grabbed the disciples’ attention, alerting them to the importance of what he was about to say: I tell you the truth. The necessary ingredient was faith (taking God at his word), which the disciples lacked. Jesus clarified his meaning by mentioning the opposite of faith—doubt.

With that kind of faith, the disciples would be able to wither fig trees and more. Jesus and his disciples were probably crossing the Mount of Olives as they approached Jerusalem. Jesus probably pointed to the mount when he said this mountain, giving the disciples a visual image that illustrated the power of God available to the person with true faith (cf. “this mountain” in 17:20). The disciples could envision the Mount of Olives being lifted and cast into the sea at the word of a faith-filled believer.

Jesus meant us to assume that mountain-moving faith should not be exercised in such frivolous ways as rearranging the earth. In fact, faith cannot be exercised in any way except according to God’s will. It is not the faith which moves mountains, but the power of God in response to the expression of faith. True faith is always in keeping with God’s will and is based on intimacy with God and an understanding of his heart and will.

22. And ‘faith’ is always in Matthew not a quality of the one praying, but a relationship of practical trust with the one to whom prayer is offered.

Matthew C. The King Acts out the Drama of the Fruitless Fig Tree (21:18–22)

Prayer is an expression of our powerlessness and dependence on God. The weaker we realize we are, the greater the working of God’s power through us (2 Cor. 12:7–10). The mature believer has strength that comes from God. The believer in humble dependence becomes a vessel for God’s power. A person who asks in accordance with God’s desire will have his requests granted.

The faith Jesus implied here is an attitude of submission to his will, confidence in his wisdom, and assurance of his love. This is faith that the Father can take our requests and sort them out according to our best interest and his glory. With such an attitude, we will gradually grow to share the mind of Christ, to desire his desires and to ask for his requests.

Application

Many people came to Jesus asking for something: a miracle, a healing, a free lunch. Jesus challenged them with this question to expose their motives.

When we come to God with our shopping lists, the question that remains on Jesus’ heart is “Do you believe?” Jesus said in Matthew 21:22: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Let’s not be like the double-minded one in James 1:6-8 who doubts and is “like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind.”

James 1:6–8 NIV

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

May our response to Him be like that of the demon-possessed boy’s father who replied honestly in Mark 9:24: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Closing